Whatsapp Business for SMEs : Why you can’t miss this.

Why Whatsapp Business?

I was talking to a couple of my clients last month, and I realized that they were unaware of something phenomenal. If you are a business person in Kenya, you need to sit up an listen. Something amazing just happened and few business people know about it:

WhatsApp Business app was launched in January 2018 on Android and is geared towards small and medium enterprises, and helping them connect with their customers.

Why is Whatsapp a BIG DEAL?

Well, if you are not aware that as of January 2018 , Whatsapp is the biggest social media platform in Kenya, then you need to read this post I did a while ago for some quick insight on Social Media for small businesses in Kenya.

Over 7 Million Kenyans are active on social media, and over 70% of them are on Whatsapp.

This means that any business that values customer feedback and wishes to communicate with its clients in their preferred channel needs to be on Whatsapp Business,period.

Whatsapp Business Features

Business Profiles, which can provide potential customers with useful information such as a business description, email or store addresses, and website. So an Small to Medium Business will be able to create their business profile on Whatsapp Business, which will be highlighted to regular users on WhatsApp.

Messaging tools, where WhatsApp offers smart messaging tools like quick replies, etc. to help provide fast answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). There are also greeting messages for customers and away messages as well.

Business owners also get to see messaging statistics and review what messages have been read and see what is working on the platform.

There is also be the option of WhatsApp Web to send and receive messages with WhatsApp Business on the desktop.

The account type will let users know if they are talking to a business as it will listed as a Business Account. WhatsApp will also have some Confirmed Accounts over time for a few businesses.

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s how to get it.

On you Android phone, go to your google play store, search for Whatsapp Business, you will see an app with the below , download and install it.

How to set up Whatsapp Business

Create “WhatsApp Business Profile”:

Open WhatsApp Business App > Tap the menu button indicated as 3 dots at the upper right corner of the app> Settings > Business settings > Profile.

Here is a useful Whatsapp Business Tip

One of the sleekest ways to implement Whatsapp business is to integrate it to your website. This way, any of the client visiting you can strike a conversation instantly with you. This can be great for customer service as well as sales. I have implemented this for a number of my clients with amazing results.